Distributed-ledger technology
Waters Wrap: Fintech funding—follow the money
As funding for startups and young companies dries up due to inflation and rising interest rates, Anthony looks at some of the vendors that have received monetary infusions this year to see if there are any patterns to be gleaned.
Waters Wavelength Podcast: A tech unicorn's take on cloud and infra in the capital markets
Andy Volz, chief operating officer at capital markets fintech firm Clear Street, joins Tony on the podcast to talk about cloud and infrastructure woes in the capital markets.
Waters Wrap: After Symphony, David Gurle’s new opus looks to distributed cloud storage, compute
The creator of Perzo/Symphony has started a new company called Hive. Anthony chats with David Gurle to see how the startup will look to disrupt the cloud space.
Development bank aims for better settlement with blockchain prototype
R3 is among the companies working with the regional bank on a proof-of-concept to bring efficiencies to cross-border securities transactions.
Symphony brings Web3 to KYC with new ID service pilot
Symphony Communication Services is piloting an experimental ID service that uses Web3 and DeFi concepts to automate and reduce the burden of tasks like know-your-customer, onboarding, and reporting.
Is DLT post-trade a solution without a problem?
Sources question landmark projects' ability to use technology at scale as further delay besets ASX deployment
BlackRock calls for blockchain to fix futures processing snags
The asset manager wants the industry to move faster in adopting a “single source of truth” model.
This Week: Goldman Sachs, MSCI/MarketAxess, Cboe/ErisX, & more
A summary of the latest financial technology news.
Waters Wrap: Blockchain & Boca—A sad story
Anthony takes issue with how blockchain is still being covered in the media and at industry conferences. What else is new?
Biden approach could leave US behind on crypto regulation
Long timeline of executive order means international community may move faster than US lawmakers
Where have all the blockchain startups gone?
Building a startup is hard. Building a blockchain startup is harder. More than 10 current and former financial blockchain builders and users detail their experiences of trying to cut their teeth on a once-darling tech, and the lessons they’re still…
What the hell is Web3, anyway?
The next iteration of the internet is upon us, with the potential to deliver radical shifts to every industry, including banking. The movement, which is currently buoyed by the prospects of blockchain and virtual reality, has implications for computing,…
Vanguard eyes DLT for FX forwards after smart contract success
The fund giant hopes the roll-out of the tech in 2022 will deliver greater efficiency and pricing benefits.
In the race to institutionalize crypto, participants eye familiar tech ‘wrappers’ for new assets
Despite the development of digital assets overall, and interest in cryptocurrencies remaining strong among individual investors and niche firms, widespread institutional adoption remains muted. Wei-Shen Wong looks at the tools being developed to support…
From overhype to practical use cases: the DLT projects that gained ground in 2021
WatersTechnology reflects on some notable distributed ledger technology projects.
Waters Wavelength Podcast: DTCC’s Peve on using tokenization to streamline private markets
Jennifer Peve, managing director and head of strategy and business development at DTCC, discusses the Digital Securities Management (DSM) platform the firm is working on for US private markets.
Slow burn to a big bang: How the new wave of tech is changing market data platforms
For decades, market data platforms have been critical components of financial firms’ trading infrastructures. But with changing user needs and emerging technologies gaining ground, will the platforms of the past be replaced by upstart challengers—or can…
ASX goes live with new DLT-as-a-service platform
Synfini enables customers to access the exchange’s DLT infrastructure, data hosting, ledger services, and support.
Waters Wrap: CME & Google—the first domino falls
Anthony explores some of the unanswered questions—and potential ripple effects—that come with the new partnership between CME and Google.
Waters Wrap: Examining Digital Asset’s DLT strategy (and its broader implications)
Digital Asset has slowly expanded its influence with exchanges in the APAC region, and this year has made additional inroads in the US and Europe. Anthony examines the company's wins and losses over the last seven years.
Waters Wrap: Will privacy-enhancing tech for the back office fall flat?
Anthony says that banks should be more concerned with cleaning up the technical debt accumulated in the back office, rather than dumping money into bleeding-edge technologies.
ASX builds ‘DLT-as-a-service’ offering to help prep market for Chess replacement
The exchange’s customer Daml sandpit has been up and running since January and has had over 20 firms log on. The next phase—its DLT cloud environment—will be ready in early October.
This Week: Macrobond/FactSet, Tradweb, Bloomberg, DTCC, and more
A summary of some of the past week’s financial technology news.
Sell side pushing for bilateral connectivity for fixed income
Fixed-income liquidity providers, battling tighter margins, want to execute directly with clients, but are buy-side and tech firms willing to absorb the connectivity costs?